The Federal Government has given the sum of N200 million grants to Rivers State Government to help fight the deadly Ebola Virus Disease EVD in the state.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who made this known on Friday, said the money is meant to support the fight against the virus in Rivers state, The Nation reports.
Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu
Prof. Chukwu, revealed that the federal government had earlier released the same amount of money to the Lagos state to help fight the deadly disease after it recorded its first case of EVD in Nigeria.
Dr. Sampson Parker, Rivers State Commissioner for Health who confirmed receiving the money on Friday, thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for fulfilling his promise.
Parker also called on the state residents to continue to observe and maintain a personal hygiene to sustain the fight against the Ebola disease.
“Let me use this opportunity to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he promised to release the sum of N200 million to the Rivers State government to assist in the fight against EVD, that has been done and we have received it,” Parker said.
Meanwhile, Rivers State recorded its first case of Ebola virus disease in August when a medical doctor, Ikye Enemuo, died after treating an ECOWAS diplomat in a Port Harcourt hotel. The deceased doctor became the first victim of the disease in the state as well as the third doctor to die of Ebola disease in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that on September 15, 2014, the Rivers state government cried out that they have not seen the N200 million assistance the Federal Government promised themdespite Lagos State receiving the sum.
However, on Thursday, August 28, the first recorded death from Ebola in Portharcourt was confirmed, a doctor who secretly treated an ECOWAS diplomat who had contact with Patrick Sawyer (index case), but the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, has announced that Nigeria was completely free of active Ebola cases.
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